Sermon for Sermon for 5th Sunday of Easter – morning
Sunday 14th May 2017
Acts 7.55 – end
John 14. 1-4
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.”
Can you sense the urgency and passion with which Jesus speaks these words to Philip? This passage comes from the great “Farewell discourse” in John’s Gospel – spoken to his disciples in the hours before his arrest and execution on the Cross. Time is running out for Jesus and he is desperate to get his message across… he is almost begging his disciples to have faith; to believe – and to say to them, and us – look, if you find it hard to believe in a God who is just spirit, then look at me! God and I are one for you. I have come to put a human face on God for you – because God recognises that for human beings, it is very hard to believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God who is invisible to the human eye.
And yet – modern science has taught us that the human eye can only detect one part of the electro-magnetic spectrum. We see, only what is useful for us to see. There are creatures on this planet – many insects in fact – which can detect a much wider range of that spectrum than we can. They see and detect complex patterns on the petals of flowers that we merely see as pretty. For them, there are essential signals showing them where to find the nourishment on which they depend for life.
Our senses are limited – my dogs have a far more sophisticated and discerning sense of smell than I do! Probably just as well! I do not need to use my nose to tell me who or what passed by my house today, yesterday or last week – but my dogs probably can!
There are more wonders in this world than we can begin to imagine; and yet we often live in it as though it were created purely for our benefit and amusement. Creation is a marvel that stretches far beyond our knowledge and understanding and that in itself helps me to believe in a God who inspires – who breathes his spirit – into all that I can see and much that I have to take on trust and in faith.
You could say that my faith is founded partly on my belief in Jesus as the Son of God, but also because of the works themselves that Jesus spoke of in our Gospel passage this morning.
This week I have been spending time with people from another part of Staffordshire who are engaged on a two year programme of vision development for their churches called Thrive. They are developing for themselves a fresh vision of how to be church in multi-parish benefices, where more than one parish has to share their clergy. You have a taste of that here too, as you all know that I only have half my time to spend with you in this parish. The other half I work elsewhere in the Diocese – although on Sundays you have the luxury (or misfortune?) of having my undivided attention! But there are many churches – especially in the countryside – where they will only see an ordained minister on alternate Sundays or maybe even less frequently.
However, they are still the church in that place – so they need to find ways in which they can be the church. Ways in which they can worship God and proclaim his power to their communities. Ways in which they can work together to further God’s mission – which is to bring all people to know and love him.
It isn’t easy – but we were never promised an easy ride! And nothing can happen unless people believe. Unless faith is kept alive and people find the words to share that faith one with another in simple, everyday language and with the confidence to know that the Holy Spirit speaks through each one of us.
How many full-time Christian workers do you see in Church this morning?
The answer is – as many people as are gathered here.
I may be the Vicar – but all of you are out there…. on the front line …. whether in school or at work, or socialising with your friends.
It is not true to say that the world out there is indifferent to us. Many, many people are curious as to what we get up to in this building – why we choose to spend time here on Sundays or any other time. Some are antagonistic, it is true – usually because what they imagine we do and say and believe is actually very far from the truth! But how are they to know if we never have a conversation about it?
Oh I don’t mean that you need to push your beliefs down anyone’s throat… no bible bashing please! And you don’t need to… just talk honestly and simply about your own faith journey and the reasons you come here.
So here’s the challenge for you this morning. As we gather with our coffee this morning, why not share something of your own faith journey with your friends here? What could be simpler – after all, they should be a receptive audience! And I bet we will find some fascinating stories if we did that. One or two of you have shared your stories with me over the years…. but there are far more that have not.
And as you come to the altar this morning, to receive the bread and wine, symbols of God’s love and care for each one of us, why not ask God to inspire you in your conversations with others during the week to come? To give you further opportunities to share something of your own story with others and to hear and listen to their stories too. You never know…. you might enjoy it, and through your actions we might see more people joining us in the weeks to come, but that isn’t the main point of the exercise…. More significantly, you will have taken a bit of God’s story and action in the world out from this place into his marvellous creation.
Thanks be to God.